Scorched

by Theresa Shaver

  “I think we need to clear up how this works. I tell YOU what to do. You obey! I’m getting tired of your mouth so from now on you keep your trap shut. Got it?” He gives me another shake to emphasize his point and I feel my head bob up and down at his shaking. Thankfully, he takes that as my agreement and lets me go. He stabs a finger past me and motions for me to get moving so I slowly turn and start walking. The sled seems to be ok after its crash with the rubber bumpers doing their job. I meet Glo’s eyes but look away quickly when I see the hopelessness in them. She doesn’t believe we’re going to get out of this but she’s wrong. I’m going to kill that bastard the first opportunity I get.

  The next few hours are spent in silence except for the scuff of our feet over the rocky terrain. I’ve zoned out as the burn in my thighs from the uphill climb matches the burn of the sun beating down on my scarf wrapped head. I stumble without warning when the land levels out for the first time in what feels like hours and look up to take in what’s ahead. We’ve reached a saddle clearing between two giant rock peaks that runs for about four hundred feet before dropping away. As happy as I am to be walking on flat ground again, I’m also nervous because I can see at least five fissures in the ground ahead that we will have to jump over. The first few look like they’re only a couple of feet across and should be manageable but the third is a dark gap in the rock that from here looks at least four or five feet across. I’ve paused as I try and work out how the sled is going to go over it but shake my head. It must be doable if my grandfather traveled this route to his claim. My next thought is how I can use the large fissure to my advantage. If I can time it right, I might be able to catch Boyd off guard and shove him down into it.

  “What’s the holdup?” Boyd gasps from behind me so I move to the side and just point out what’s ahead.

  He takes his time looking around to catch his breath and guzzle down way too much water. I look away to hide my disgust when he finishes off his second jug of the hike and tosses the empty container on the ground. The way he’s not even trying to ration tells me again that he doesn’t care that there won’t be enough left to support all three of us for more than a few days. He’s just going to kill us and take it all for himself.

  Glo’s grunt of surprise has me spinning back around. Boyd’s dragged her from her spot on the sled and has her clutched against him.

  “You first, with the sled. Once you’re across, we’ll follow.”

  I try and keep the glare from my eyes when I realize I won’t be pushing him into a crack after all. Instead, I just turn and get the sled moving. It’s an easy hop over the first two cracks and when I get to the third I see it’s only about six feet deep and four feet across so it wouldn’t have been deep enough to cause him much damage anyway, even if I could have pushed him into it. There’s no way I can guide the sled over it though. With nothing for the air to push against, it would just tip right in so I spend some time going back and forth along the crack until I find my grandfather’s work. Butted up against one of the rock walls that hem in the area is a section of six planks that span the crack. The planks look like wood but when I get down and push on them to see if they are rotted it turns out that they are some kind of hard plastic that just resembles wood. It seems sturdy enough so I take a tentative step out on them and let out a breath of relief when there’s no give.

  Once the sled is across, I move back to the center of the saddle and turn and wave Boyd forward, pointing to where I crossed. The shadows from the peaks are making it harder to see the ground ahead but the last few fissures are no more than two feet across so I make my way to the end and look down on what’s next. The land drops down at a steep angle before climbing back up between another set of peaks. I turn and look up at the sky. There’s at most another hour of decent light left. I don’t want to even think about navigating that descent and climb in the dark. Also, the humming from the sled is becoming more sluggish so I think the battery is winding down. I bite my lip and try and find the right words to tell Boyd that we have to stop for the day without him lashing out at me again as he catches up. Thankfully, he’s not a total idiot and when he sees what comes next he just points to the ground with a grunt.

  “We stop here for the night. Get me some food!”

  He’d pushed Glo to the ground when he caught up so I take a second to smooth the scarves back from her hair and face and bend down to plant a kiss on her forehead. My heart aches when she doesn’t even raise her eyes to meet mine but just keeps them fixed on the ground in front of her. She’s given up and shutting down. There’s nothing I can say to her to make it better with Boyd steps away so I just sigh and head over to the sled.

  He follows me and while I pull the basket that I put the food I made earlier in and rummages through all the supplies. When he grabs yet another jug of water I take a few steps away so I’m not in hitting range and say, “That’s all the water we have. There’s nowhere to replace it ahead.”

  The jug is halfway to his lips when he lowers it with a nasty look my way before taking in the other jugs still on the sled.

  “Looks like there’s plenty to me.” He says sarcastically.

  I shake my head and take another step back. “We still have a day and a half of hiking then the return trip to the cavern and then back to town, if that’s where you’re going. It won’t last if we don’t ration it.”

  He doesn’t dispute me, just glowers at me before lifting the jug to his lips. I don’t show my satisfaction when I see he only takes a swallow before capping it back up. He drops the jug back on the sled and points to the basket.

  “What’s in there?”

  I hold it out to him at arm’s reach bracing myself for a hit from him but he just snatches it from me and pulls out more food than he should for one meal then drops it to the ground in front of me. When he walks away and settles on the ground, I turn to the sled, start opening the bumpers and fanning out the solar panels to catch the last light of the day. After that, I grab the basket and settle down beside Glo and pull her into my lap. I hand her some food and we eat quickly. I watch Boyd out of the corner of my eye as he finishes his meal and starts to relax. I can see his eyelids are looking heavy and I might have a shot of just running with Glo if he falls asleep.

  I give it a few more minutes and start plotting. Slide Glo off my lap and rise to our feet. Snatch a jug of water and bolt down the slope in front of us, find somewhere to hide in the dark. We can’t go back because it’s wide open and he can just shoot us as we run so even though I don’t want to go down that steep slope in the dark, it’s our only option.

  I glance his way again and see his eyes have closed completely. This is it, this is our chance. I tense up to move just as Glo lets out a croak from a dry throat.

  “Can I have some water?”

  Boyd’s eyes pop open with a jerk and he scrambles to his feet. The gun’s pointed at us again causing me to drop my head in frustration as he motions me to my feet. I slide Glo off of my lap and push myself up to face him.

  “Get the kid a drink then bring that rope I saw on the sled over here.”

  I shuffle over to the sled in defeat. He’s going to tie us up for the night. There’s nothing I can do now so I grab the rope and a jug of water as exhaustion sets in. All the adrenaline that has been keeping me going is starting to recede, leaving me feeling weak. I toss the rope toward him and help Glo drink from the heavy jug before taking my own drink. As soon as we’re done, Boyd waves Glo over to him and wraps the thick nylon rope we had found in with the mining supplies around her waist and then ties a loop of it around his own, leaving four feet of slack in between them. He grabs my arm and spins me around before dropping down behind me and looping the rope between my legs until there’s less than a foot between my feet, effectively hobbling me. He finishes off by wrapping another loop around my waist and then attaching it to his waist. Now both Glo and I are bound to him and won’t be going anywhere in the night without him feeling it. He shoves us both in different dire
ctions away from each other and drops to the ground, dragging us down with him.

  “Go to sleep!” He mutters as he lays down.

  I rub at my sore tailbone that I landed on when he yanked the rope and look over at Glo who has curled up in a small ball facing away from me. I can see her shoulders shaking as she cries silently causing my anger to override my caution.

  “At least let me sleep with her!” I rage at him.

  He cracks one eye briefly before shutting it again. “Just be grateful I’m tired and want to sleep, girl. You and me are due for a...conversation...and it won’t be about sleeping with your sister. Now shut up and go to sleep or I might find the energy to have that talk tonight!”

  A cold shiver runs down my back. I know exactly what he’s implying. I’d rather die first! With one last look at Glo in the fading light, I lower myself down to the unforgiving rock and close my eyes. I think about tomorrow. I think about the valley that’s so close but also so far away now and I think about Beck. Then I let my own silent tears flow.

  Chapter Thirty

  I wake up to a dull ache coming from both my side and head with the full moon beaming down on me like a spotlight. My butt is numb and my neck is locked stiff from falling asleep leaning back against the rock so it takes me a few minutes of rolling my head around to loosen it up. I gently touch the bandages on both the front and back of my side but I can’t feel any dampness so I guess the bleeding has stopped, for now. That might change because there are things I need to do, I’ve rested enough.

  I use the wall to pull myself up and am pleased that my head doesn’t swim the way it had earlier. I dump out the bloody water from both buckets and put the med kits in them to carry back inside so I don’t have to make as many trips. A flare of pain wells up in my side when I use that arm to pick up one of the buckets but it’s not the white-hot spear that it was earlier. I don’t try and fool myself that I’m on the mend, I know that it’ll take days of no activity for that. But that’s not an option for me. My friends are out there somewhere in danger and I’m going to find them and save them. Even if it kills me.

  I’m happy to see that there’s full moonlight filling the cavern so I make use of it before it fades away. I find one of the shallow pans from the mining equipment and after rinsing the dust from it, fill it with clean water and put three of the rock-hard ration bars from the med kits in it to soak and hopefully soften. I don’t know if there’s any calories in those bars after so many years but my stomach needs something in it so I’ll be eating them as soon as they won’t break my teeth.

  Before Boyd showed up, we had taken a quick look at what was on the shelves but we hadn’t really opened everything to see what all was there. I do remember seeing two black bags with straps on one of the shelves so I pull them off but have to let them drop to the ground when the surprising weight of them is too much for my wounded side to bear. I end up just dragging them one at a time to the middle of the cavern, where there is the most light, and start emptying them of what’s inside and sorting it into piles. I can’t stop grinning when I end up with two complete changes of clothes. All I own is the clothes on my back, consisting of the stiff with dirt and blood pants that I’m wearing and a shirt that’s now nothing but a bloody rag after I used it to clean my wounds. My socks and underwear, well, they are beyond salvageable at this point. Having a fresh set of clothes is almost as good as finding food.

  There’s a smaller version of the medical boxes I had found earlier but this one has a sealed bottle of painkillers in it. I hold that bottle in my hand and stare at it for a moment in thought. What are the chances that after all these years they would have any effective properties to them? I decide I don’t care so I peel the wrapper away and chew all six of the bitter white pills and hope they don’t kill me.

  I find a coil of rope and a roll of plastic wrapped silver tape that I set aside. The last three things in the main compartment of the bag are foil pouches with MRE stamped on the side and a wind-up flashlight. I have no idea what an MRE is so I spend a few minutes winding the light up with my good arm until I get a weak beam from it and use it to read the fine print on the foil pouches. When I get the gist of what Meal Ready to Eat is, my eyes go wide and swing them over to the pan of hard bars sitting in water that was going to be my next meal before shaking my head with a smile. Looks like I’ll be eating slightly better after all.

  I take my time following the directions on the package and marvel at how easily it heats up as a slight smell of spicy tomatoes fills the air. There are more pockets on the outside of the pack and a weird container built into the side of it that has rubber tubing attached to it. I find a compass and a folding knife in one pocket and a dozen thin foil packets the length and width of my finger in the other. The packets are orange, blue and green and have the words Gator-Ade on them. They feel squishy when I squeeze them but I can’t tell what’s in them so I just tear one open, sending orange dust everywhere. I sniff at the open foil, surprised at the faint fruity smell so I tentatively lick at some of the orange dust on my hand. It tastes vaguely like oranges but sort of salty too.

  The light goes out before I can look more closely at the packaging so I have to spend more time cranking it. The moon has moved further across the sky so the cavern now has no natural light to help me see. I spend a while just sitting in the dark cranking at the light so it will last longer this time. I place it on one of the shelves to shine directly on the area I’m working in and leave both my hands free. I finally figure out that the colored powder is added to water to give it flavor and after looking closer at the pack and container with the tube, realize that it’s a built-in canteen.

  I sit and eat the first hot meal I’ve had in days and think about what comes next. Mainly, find my friends and end my brother. Thanks to Día’s grandfather, I have everything I need here to survive on the hike. The only question that remains is if my body will let me get it done. I take stock of my injuries thoughtfully. I don’t know if there was something left in those pills I chewed or if it’s the hot food filling my belly but I feel a million times better. My side still hurts but not as severely as it did earlier and my headache is almost gone. I want to leave well enough alone but I know I have to change my bandages and secure it better. The pink stretchy fabric won’t hold up once I really start moving.

  I finish my meal and get to work on the bandages while I’m feeling better. I use the silver tape to bind it in place and push all thoughts of the pain it will cause when I will have to pull it off of my skin in the future from my mind. Once that’s done, I do the same to the gash on my head with a smaller piece of tape and hope it will stay in place once I start sweating. I change into the fresh clothes and put the second set in the bottom of the pack I had emptied. The other pack I pulled off the shelf was a duplicate to the first one so I consolidated everything I wanted to take into one and leave the rest of the supplies on the shelves for if we ever come back here. The pack I want to take with me contains a set of clothes with an extra pair of underwear and socks, three MRE’s, the extra flashlight, compass, knife and all the drink powders from both bags. The final item I need to take is one med kit with all the useable sponges, sprays and pills I can jam into it.

  I close it all up, take a deep breath and lift it. It’s heavy but not as heavy as it was before with the rope and large roll of tape in it. The problem is water. I haven’t filled the container up yet so that will make it even heavier, and judging by the size of it, it won’t be enough. Once the sun is up and I’m hiking, I’ll need more than just that one container if it takes me more than a few days to find Día and Glo. I go back to the other pack and figure out how to release the container from it and discard the tubing so it will stay sealed and then fill both containers up, add the flavored powder and put the spare in the pack. I lift it again and feel the burn in my side as it pulls at the wounds. I have to put this pack on my back and carry it all while hiking with a bullet wound in my side. That thought reminds me of the most important t
hing I need to take, the gun.

  I lower the pack back to the ground and go pull the gun from the sand where I left it, then go sit down with the bag and look over the straps. There’s the two that go over my shoulders and then two others that go across my body. One set encircles my chest under my arms and the other goes around my waist to let my hips take some of the weight. It’s the lower ones that worry me. Once they’re clipped closed the straps will only be a few inches under the wound and if they move around could rub right against the bandages causing both a huge amount of pain and the wound to start bleeding again.

  The other option I see is to use the rope to make a harness of some sort and drag the stupid thing behind me but that will bring its own set of problems. The only way to know if it’s going to be possible is to put it on and see if it will work. I’m not going to let this stop me from going after my friends so I might as well just do it.

  I swing around on my bottom until my back is to the pack and maneuver my arms through the straps while its weight is resting on the ground and then clip the belts around me and tighten the straps until they’re snug. I clench my jaw against the pain I know is coming and lean forward until the pack is all the way off the ground and on my back. Then I use the shelves to pull myself to my feet and stand, stuff the gun in my pocket and just stand there sweating as I get used to the weight and the pain it has caused. I don’t move as I force myself to picture Claudia and Gloria’s faces, cowering in fear of my brother, until I feel the rage overtake me. I snatch the flashlight from the shelf where I left it to shine and head towards the tarp covering the opening that leads to the path. When I get past the tarp I shine the light on the ground until I see the path and look up and to the East where the beginnings of false dawn are starting to lighten the sky. I put my head down and step onto the path. I’m going to get my friends.